Orient Capital (Orient), a global leader in share ownership analysis, has acquired London-based King Worldwide Investor Relations, the specialist capital markets intelligence business, formerly known as Capital Precision. Orient has also acquired a 50% interest in D.F. King & Co’s European operations from American Stock Transfer & Trust (AST).
Orient provides share ownership analysis, equity market intelligence, investor communication, proxy solicitation and shareholder management technology and is a subsidiary of Link Group – a leading third party financial record keeping company. The acquisitions expand Orient’s global footprint in key European markets such as Germany, Russia, Spain and Italy to complement its existing capabilities in the UK and France.
King Worldwide Investor Relations provides capital markets intelligence to over 150 of the world’s largest companies and their advisors. Specialising in global shareholder analysis, global bondholder analysis, institutional targeting and investor perception work, the company’s unique and innovative skills are commissioned for both investor relations programs and corporate transactions.
David Geddes, CEO of Orient Capital, said: “King Worldwide Investor Relations has an outstanding reputation for bespoke shareholder identification in capital markets where there is little or no transparency of ownership. Orient Capital’s expertise is in markets where disclosure provisions permit detailed and highly accurate analysis of share registers.
“Our businesses are a perfect fit and the acquisition allows us to spread our entire investor relations product suite across Europe, the Middle East and Africa where transparency of ownership data varies greatly. Following the acquisition of King Worldwide Investor Relations, we are now able to service all markets.”
The acquisition of King Worldwide Investor Relations will expand Orient’s capabilities to offer services to identify and track their shareholders, target new investors and deliver investor management and communications solutions, together with websites and webcasting.
Fred Stone, CEO of King Worldwide Investor Relations, added: “Orient Capital’s proprietary technology will significantly enhance our processing capability and our clients will immediately benefit from the roll out of their unique web-based investor relations management platform, miraqle. We are excited to be joining forces with a company with such an acknowledged reputation for excellence. With Orient Capital, we will be the premier provider of investor relations services, with market leading shareholder identification and analysis.”
Orient purchases 50% of D.F. King (Europe)
To expand its proxy solicitation capabilities in Europe, Orient has also acquired a 50% interest in the European business of D.F. King & Co., Inc. (D.F. King), one of the leading and most trusted providers of proxy and other stakeholder services throughout Europe and North America.
Founded in 1942, D. F. King is a leading full-service proxy solicitation firm for annual/special meetings of stockholders (AGMs/EGMs) and act as information agents for companies during takeover and merger offers and votes.
The 50% stake in the European business has been acquired from AST, who simultaneously announced today it has entered into an agreement to purchase the entire operating businesses of D.F. King.
AST joined forces with Link Group in 2008 to form a global share registry offering. Both companies became members of the Global Share Alliance in 2011 which provides enhanced global registry and financial services to international companies around the world.
“This is a significant development for our European investor relations business and also solidifies our trans-Atlantic relationship with AST. Aligning ourselves with a company of the reputation and depth of experience in proxy solicitation as D.F. King, delivers real bench strength to our investor relations offering in Europe,” said Mr Geddes.
Also commenting on the transaction, John Bibas, Managing Director of D.F. King (Europe) said: “This transaction combines the complementary strengths and expertise of our respective businesses and will have a material positive impact on the European issuer and shareholder services industry.”
